Warning! This post contains spoilers for Netflix’s Time Cut.
Surprisingly, a new time travel horror movie on Netflix takes a jab at one of the most crucial details from the firstBack to the Futurefilm. However, despite being critical ofBack to the Future’s portrayal of time travel, the Netflix film repeats the same mistake. Although it has been close to 4 decades since the firstBack to the Futuremovie’s release, the movie is considered one of the most entertaining takes on time travel and remains an inspiration for many modern-day sci-fi flicks.
In more ways than one, a new Netflixtime travel moviealso draws inspiration fromBack to the Futureand walks viewers through a coming-of-age drama that unfolds across two interconnected timelines. Even after seemingly drawing inspiration from Marty McFly’s adventures in theBack to the Futuremovies, the Netflix film dares to be critical about one scene from theRobert Zemeckis movie. While it is understandable where the criticism comes from, theNetflix horror movieultimately falls into the same trap that Back to the Future does.
Time Cut Takes A Jab At Back To The Future’s Photo Fading Scene
The Netflix Movie Implies Back To The Future Oversimplifies Time Travel
In a scene from Netflix’sTime Cut, a character tries to explain the butterfly effect to a time traveler who has traveled to the past from the future. The character citesBack to the Future’s photo-fading scene as an example, in which Marty starts vanishing from the photo of him and his siblings the more his mother falls in love with him in the past instead of his father. According to theTime Cutcharacter,Back to the Future’s portrayal of the rippling impact of one’s actions across time has been oversimplified.
Where Was Time Cut Filmed? Netflix Sci-Fi Horror’s Filming Locations Explained
Netflix’s teen horror movie Time Cut was filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 across multiple locations in scenic Manitoba, Canada.
Highlighting how changing the past can have a devastating impact on the future and even trigger something as extreme as World War III, the character implies they will end up changing a lot more than just a few photographs if they try to alter the past. Given howBack to the Future’s portrayal of the butterfly effect is not as intense as it should be, the criticism makes sense to some extent. However, it also seems likeTime Cutundermines the true meaning behind theBack to the Futurephoto-fading scene.
Back To The Future’s Photo Fade Is Deeper Than Time Cut Lets On
It Represents The Slow Decay Of Marty’s Future
Time Cuttries to downplay the significance of theBack to the Futurescene, but it is far deeper than the Netflix movie lets on. By showing how Marty gradually disappears from the picture with his siblings, the movie perfectly captures the relative probability of his own existence in the future.The scene underscores the fragility of time and identity, showing how Marty’s existence is not as immutable as he thinks. Instead, his future is tied to a complex web of choices and relationships from the past, and any changes to them significantly impact the likelihood of his own existence.
Despite The Criticism, Time Cut Avoids Exploring The Butterfly Effect
Time Cut Never Explores Rippling Consequences Of One’s Actions Across Time
Even after being critical ofBack to the Future’s “oversimplified” take on time travel and the butterfly effect,Time Cutdoes not escape the same narrative pitfalls it tries to rail against. The main character,Lucy, inTime Cut, travels back in time and saves people from a vicious serial killer. Unlike Marty, who only tries to save his parents' marriage, Lucy alters the course of history by ensuring her sister, who was supposed to be dead in the future timeline, survives her encounter with a serial killer in the past.
Back to the Future
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According to the movie’s logic, Lucy’s decision to save her sister should have resulted in some of the most drastic and chaotic changes to the timeline. Yet, inTime Cut’s endingmoments, when she returns to the year she had traveled from, she only notices minor, easily explainable changes to the world around her. Owing to its family-friendly story and limited runtime,Time Cutwould not have been able to explore the depths and complexities of time travel. However, it seems unfair that it subtly attacksBack to the Futurewhen it ultimately offers a similar oversimplification.
Time Cut
A teenage girl goes back in time to the early 2000s to save her sister from a dangerous killer.
Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly as he is inadvertently sent back to 1955, where he disrupts his parents' meeting. With the assistance of eccentric inventor Doc Brown, Marty must restore the timeline by ensuring his parents fall in love and find a way back to 1985.
